Economic Confidence Plummets thanks to GOP Shutdown

Amongst all the other impacts we’ve seen, the GOP shutdown has caused Americans’ confidence in our economy to drop dramatically. A new Gallup poll shows the Economic Confidence Index has dropped to the lowest average since December 2011. From Gallup Economy:

“Americans' confidence in the U.S. economy has dropped sharply as the partial government shutdown caused by Congress' inability to pass a spending bill has become reality. Gallup's Economic Confidence Index's three-day rolling average stands at -34 for Oct. 1-3, down 14 points from Sept. 27-29, and the lowest such average since December 2011.”

“Economic confidence had already been dropping prior to this week's official shutdown, with a slide to -19 for the month of September, compared with -13 in August. But a significantly sharper decline in confidence has been evident over the past three days just as the government partially closed down -- leading to the current -34 three-day average.”

“How much lower economic confidence might fall over the days and weeks ahead depends on what the Congress ends up doing in regard to both the current government shutdown and the looming debt ceiling deadline on Oct. 17. One glimmer of more positive news is the fact that after a similar plummet in confidence during the August 2011 debt ceiling crisis, confidence regained its previous footing within several months.”